Assignment: Audience

1. Assignment: Audience A Writing Across the Curriculum & Writing in the Disciplines Professional Development Presentation

2. The first part of today�s discussion involves a comparative look at WAC and WID. The idea is to see what they are, how they are related, and how they are different. In the second part, I show you a little about what is happening in writing instruction today, so you can see some of the theory and practice behind what many of my colleagues and I do. The last half of today�s discussion is the real hands-on section, where you take any of my ideas and strategies, re-shape them to make them your own, and discuss them with your colleagues. We�ll look at how you might implement some ideas, and look at how to deal with assessment. Please also keep in mind that whatever you attempt to do, the Writing Center (and I) will be available as a resources for you.The first part of today�s discussion involves a comparative look at WAC and WID. The idea is to see what they are, how they are related, and how they are different. In the second part, I show you a little about what is happening in writing instruction today, so you can see some of the theory and practice behind what many of my colleagues and I do. The last half of today�s discussion is the real hands-on section, where you take any of my ideas and strategies, re-shape them to make them your own, and discuss them with your colleagues. We�ll look at how you might implement some ideas, and look at how to deal with assessment. Please also keep in mind that whatever you attempt to do, the Writing Center (and I) will be available as a resources for you.

3. Audience in Composition Higher Order Issue with ties to purpose Writer Reader Text

4. Audience in Composition For writers to familiarize themselves with the rhetorical situation in which they are writing What do I have to say? To or before whom is it being said? Under what circumstances? What are the audience predispositions? How much time or space do I have? (Corbett, 1997, p.290)

5. The Problem with Audience Are these analogous? Speaker ? Voice ? Audience with Writer ? Text ? Audience or is it Speaker ? Voice ? Audience with Writer ? Text ? Reader

6. The Problem with Audience The concept of audience is misleading when used to describe a relationship that involves a writer (as opposed to a speaker). This is because while there may be a specific and very real audience, readers, being already plural, defy any effort to gather under a single identity. Consequently, the writer must make up an audience (or more accurately, reader) to direct his or her writing towards. (Ong, 1997, p. 58-9)

7. The Problem with Audience Results of this misleading concept: �The writer must construct in his imagination� an audience cast in some sort of role� (Ong, 1997, p. 60) �A reader has to play the role in which the author has cast him, which seldom coincides with his role in the rest of actual life� (Ong, 1997, p. 60). The audience is a fiction means� �The writer must construct in his imagination� an audience cast in some sort of role� (p.60) This imaginative audience is most often faculty who play the role of evaluator, since the course or class assignment provides the context for the writing, and the writing occurs at our request! �A reader has to play the role in which the author has cast him, which seldom coincides with his role in the rest of actual life� (p.60). In agreeing to be the student�s audience and play the role of evaluator, we subject ourselves to other possible rules that the writer imposes on us � what he or she expects us to know, how he or she expects us to grade. The audience is a fiction means� �The writer must construct in his imagination� an audience cast in some sort of role� (p.60) This imaginative audience is most often faculty who play the role of evaluator, since the course or class assignment provides the context for the writing, and the writing occurs at our request! �A reader has to play the role in which the author has cast him, which seldom coincides with his role in the rest of actual life� (p.60). In agreeing to be the student�s audience and play the role of evaluator, we subject ourselves to other possible rules that the writer imposes on us � what he or she expects us to know, how he or she expects us to grade.

8. So Who Do They Write For? An idealized �intellectual� Nobody in particular Themselves (for presentation, not for learning) No Matter which they choose, each can cause problems! For example, some students may make radical leaps in thinking because 1. They expect us, as �intellectuals,� to be able to make the same leap naturally. If we know it all already, if we function as the repositories of knowledge, then why can�t we make the leap? 2. They have no sense of audience, and therefore have no sense of who they are writing for or how much they need to say. The writing comes out chaotic, unfocused, with improper tone, purpose, style, etc. 3. In the absence of a clear audience, they write for themselves, and therefore feel they need to say less, since they already know how they made that jump. Although WAC says that students sometimes DO need to write for themselves in order to learn, writing for presentation purposes requires an awareness of audience which they lack. In each case, the writer has created a reader and set up expectations for that reader � rules the reader is expected to play by that determine what and how much needs to be written. For example, some students may make radical leaps in thinking because 1. They expect us, as �intellectuals,� to be able to make the same leap naturally. If we know it all already, if we function as the repositories of knowledge, then why can�t we make the leap? 2. They have no sense of audience, and therefore have no sense of who they are writing for or how much they need to say. The writing comes out chaotic, unfocused, with improper tone, purpose, style, etc. 3. In the absence of a clear audience, they write for themselves, and therefore feel they need to say less, since they already know how they made that jump. Although WAC says that students sometimes DO need to write for themselves in order to learn, writing for presentation purposes requires an awareness of audience which they lack. In each case, the writer has created a reader and set up expectations for that reader � rules the reader is expected to play by that determine what and how much needs to be written.

9. Other Reasons Faculty should help students address audience because: Students don�t normally value knowledge distinct from audience & purpose. Faculty can situate the assignment within a real-world context. This is an opportunity to explore the literature of the discipline. And, again, audience (and Purpose) are foundational to good writing. Even beyond the theoretical, why should we bother thinking about audience as it applies to our classroom writing and assignments? First, we need to accept that today�s student doesn�t normally value knowledge simply because it is good to know � there has to be some benefit, some gain to be gotten by doing the work, especially if we want to see them do their best work. Second, when we provide, or require them to clearly identify a specific audience, we are forcing them to work at contextualizing their knowledge � situating it within a discipline, an experience, or a scenario they might well encounter later in life. Third, this is an opportunity for faculty to assign and expose students to the literature of the discipline. Making students aware of what writing in the career field looks like will help them establish a sense of what �real� and �good� writing is according to the professional definition. Finally, the literature of Composition recognizes that good, focused writing can best be achieved with a clear sense of purpose and a dedicated audience � whether we agree the audience is a fiction or not!Even beyond the theoretical, why should we bother thinking about audience as it applies to our classroom writing and assignments? First, we need to accept that today�s student doesn�t normally value knowledge simply because it is good to know � there has to be some benefit, some gain to be gotten by doing the work, especially if we want to see them do their best work. Second, when we provide, or require them to clearly identify a specific audience, we are forcing them to work at contextualizing their knowledge � situating it within a discipline, an experience, or a scenario they might well encounter later in life. Third, this is an opportunity for faculty to assign and expose students to the literature of the discipline. Making students aware of what writing in the career field looks like will help them establish a sense of what �real� and �good� writing is according to the professional definition. Finally, the literature of Composition recognizes that good, focused writing can best be achieved with a clear sense of purpose and a dedicated audience � whether we agree the audience is a fiction or not!

10. Who Could Their Audiences Be? Practicing Professionals Faculty Journal and Book Editors Graduate Students Peers __________ A strategy to counter Ong�s problem, and to encourage students to make a greater investment in their writing, is to take Ong at his word. Writers can never know the exact identity of the reader when he or she receives the text, and the reader can never exactly know the writer�s intents or ideologies. So because the �truth� is impossible to reach, we need to construct a much stronger fiction by considering specific target audiences. This can be done in class, verbally, or on the assignment sheet or syllabus. A strategy to counter Ong�s problem, and to encourage students to make a greater investment in their writing, is to take Ong at his word. Writers can never know the exact identity of the reader when he or she receives the text, and the reader can never exactly know the writer�s intents or ideologies. So because the �truth� is impossible to reach, we need to construct a much stronger fiction by considering specific target audiences. This can be done in class, verbally, or on the assignment sheet or syllabus.

11. Developing Audience Develop purpose beyond simply finding out what they know. Discuss in Class, or Explain in Syllabus or Assignment Sheet. Ask the following: Who is this paper, report, summary, reflection, etc. most likely to be read by if it were in a real situation? What is this reader�s professional situation? What is his or her intellectual knowledge? What does he or she believe? What will matter to this reader? What style and tone does this reader expect?

12. More Advanced Strategies Suggest or require students to read the journals in your discipline to find out more about audience / who they should write for. Involve students in undergraduate research activities to discover what is important to research audiences and professionals. Have the student use writing in service-learning or other projects where the texts carry significance beyond a grade.

13. References Corbett, E. P. J., & Conners, R. (1999). Classical rhetoric for the modern student (4th ed.). New York: Oxford. Ong, W. J. (1997). The writer�s audience is always a fiction. In V. Villanueva (Ed.) Cross-talk in comp theory: A reader (pp. 55-76). Urbana, IL: NCTE.